London Challenge

[Tim Lund]

Just heard a fascinating piece on the Today programme - not yet on line, but it was at about 8.50 this morning. It was about some research into what recent reforms have actually worked in improving education standards - and it turns out the most successful was something I'm embarrassed to say I'd barely been aware of - "City Challenge", and in particular its precursor in London, "London Challenge". Academies had had some success, but nothing like the same value for money.

This thing which intrigues me here is that London Challenge and the programs which followed is that they were led at a centralised city level, but focused locally on where improvements were to be made, supporting the existing weaker schools. Having googled it, I find it was led by Tim Brighouse, who was knighted in 2008

At one time, Professor Sir Tim may have been viewed as a controversial choice for a knighthood, declaring as he did in 2002 while heading up education in Birmingham, that the national curriculum was "Stalinist".

But his inspirational, yet conciliatory leadership style won him more friends than enemies, and he was soon appointed London schools "tsar" and then chief adviser for London schools.

Here, he set up the London Challenge school improvement programme which initially offered extra support to 70 disadvantaged schools and five low-performing boroughs.

I'd only been aware of this man as a result of a high profile confrontation between him and widely disliked Chris Woodhead, first head of OFSTED. But it seems this lack of visibility was deliberate - from another article

"I've been deliberately not visible in London," says Brighouse. "I've made an impact on schools, but not on the public. I didn't think the London media, particularly the Evening Standard, would give me a fair crack of the whip. It would have been a time and energy trap."

In contrast to City Challenges, Academy Schools seek to improve performance by pushing down responsibility for all aspects of a school's performance to its Head, although supported by media friendly local business sponsorship and other sorts of community engagement.

Regular STF readers will know where I'm going here, which is that Academies are in the spirit of "localism" - here is the DCLG on the matter

We want to see a radical shift in the balance of power and to decentralise power as far as possible. Localism isn't simply about giving power back to local government. This Government trusts people to take charge of their lives and we will push power downwards and outwards to the lowest possible level, including individuals, neighbourhoods, professionals and communities as well as local councils and other local institutions.

whereas the London Challenge is about getting on with what needs doing, and so operating at the levels which suits best - London when it comes to leadership, individual schools when it comes to specific problems.

Or I should say "was" - because it seems this best value for money program is one to have been cut.